Class I V A

Th eFO U N D AT

IO N Taranto is a Spartan colony.

The foundation of Taranto dates around the year 706 a. C.

The circumstances of the foundation are known to us f rom the story of Antiochus of Syracuse and Ephorus of Cuma Eolica.

The myth of Phalantus

To Phalanthus the oracle of Delphi has declared:

"When you see rain from the blue sky, conquer territories and cities.."

The hero, seeing his wife ETHRA crying, thought that the prophecy had come true and proceeded to found the city of Saturion.

An another t radit ion

Another tradition says that the name of Saturn is derived f rom a local nymph named Satyr, beloved by Poseidon, f rom their union was born the hero Taras, f rom which the settlers have taken the name of the colony, Taras

The f irst port of call was brief and then Saturn, f rom which he derived the colony Taranto.

Th e a r e a o f t h e c o lo n y

The area where he built the new town is located in the inner part of the gulf , near the Mar Piccolo.

TAR AN TO The BRIDGE THE ISLAND

The OLD CITY

Th ec e m e t e r ie

s The cemeteries

provide information about the society of Taranto. The tombs were done by burial or cremation.

I n Taranto you may encounter dif ferent types of tombs, "chamber", "a semi-chamber" and "grave."

TH E D O R IC

TEM P LEThe surviving

archaeological remains have not provided data useful for identif ication of the deity to who the temple was dedicated. I t

houses three Doric columns of the northern peristyle. The new tests

have conf irmed the dating of the sacred in

the Archaic period, precisely at the end of the f irst quarter of the

sixth century BC

EXCAVATI ONS AT THE CHURCH AND CONVENT

OF SAN DOMENI CO

The National Archaeological Museum

THE JEWELS OF TARANTO

THE COI NS OF TARANTOThe image is depicted on Greek coins of Magna Graecia, but the identity of the young is not clear. Literary sources disagree on: according to Aristotle he would be Taras, according to Pausanias Phalanthus, the founder of the city, carried to safety by a dolphin on land.

OurSEA!!

�TAPAΣ.

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